We will all have a view of the world, this is mine.

The first Sunday of a new year and I wrote the correct date on our tithe check on the first try. This is going to be a good year. As for my musings …

-“But One Thing I Do” is the title of a new series I started preaching yesterday out of Philippians 3. It will be theme that we come back to many times this year. Too often we attempt to do too many things at the same time. The result is that we accomplish little in our personal lives and as a church body. We are looking to focus on the most important things and live them out in this moment. Too often we ignore what is right in front of us and miss great opportunities to serve, to grow and to bless others.

-We are still adjusting to our new sound system, but it sure is nice to be able to adjust things instead of settling.

-The congregation sang out yesterday. They sang loud. They sang with passion. They seemed to really be moved and engaged during the entire time of singing in our worship. It was an awesome way to start a new year. Todd Adkins tweeted this morning “It’s one thing to just ATTEND worship and quite another thing TO WORSHIP.” Yesterday our people didn’t just attend they really worshipped.

-I was reminded yesterday of some adjusts that will need to be made by me and the church in a month. The first Sunday in February I become the pastor of two churches. That changes my ability to fill in during our breakfast time and Small groups/Sunday School time on Sunday mornings. The reason is that I will be at the other church for the worship service before coming to my current church for worship. When this begins and someone gets sick, or doesn’t show or just doesn’t do what they were supposed to someone else must cover. In the long run this is a very good thing.

-I will need to begin worship next week clarifying a statement I made during my message yesterday. The bad news is that something I stated was not as clear as it should it have been, the good news is that it was brought to my attention, I was able to clarify it to a couple of people yesterday and I will be able to clarify it to the entire congregation. I hate when that happens. I hate it even more when I don’t discover it in time to clarify it for everyone. Just one of the many fears a pastor deals with on a weekly basis regarding their message. The fear of not being clear and being misunderstood is a biggie.

-We have had a lot of people struggling with some very major health issues in the past 2 or 3 months. It seems like it has been an unusually high number. It was encouraging to see some of them able to come and worship yesterday.

-With 8 Sundays to go in this church statistical year, we have only had 2 Sundays with a worship attendance below what we averaged the year before. I am excited by the fact that we are reaching more people this year than we did last year. I am even more excited that I am seeing tangible evidence of people growing in their relationship with Christ.

-In 9 days I will begin a new short term small group for men. This group will focus on discipleship. My prayer is for each of the men to grow in their own walk with Christ and that when our group ends many of them will continue in a discipling relationship with another man or group of men. I have been praying to have 12 in the group, and there were 8 who signed up on Sunday. There is still another week for men to commit so I am hopeful that we will see 12 involved.

-My wife and I were able to spend some time with 4 of our kids and 4 of our grandkids this past week. We were able to Skype for a brief time with our 2 kids and 5 grandkids who are serving in Kenya. It was a very good week.

-Nearly every Sunday morning a retired pastor in my church, he is also a former pastor of this church, comes in my office and prays over me before the worship service. Yesterday was especially meaningful to me. I am blessed to have 2 former pastors of this church in my congregation. They pastored this church during its highest attendance years. They are great encouragers to me.

Here’s hoping that you find your “one thing” for this week. Here’s hoping that you recognize God’s presence in your life and are reminded of how much you are loved.

Dennis

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Related

About dennyowens

I am a pastor, writer, and coach who is seeking to encourage people to follow Jesus and regain hope. I am a husband to a wonderful wife and helpmate, a father to great kids who are following Jesus and a grandpa to the greatest grandkids in the world. I have been a coach for many sports and a coach to a few pastors as well. I love sports, love to read, love to fish and love to do anything with my grandkids.